Norris Denies Antonelli by 0.011 Seconds to Snatch Madring’s First Ever Pole as Verstappen beats the Ferraris

Lando Norris denied Kimi Antonelli by 0.011 seconds to take the first pole position in Madring’s history, the reigning World Champion pulling out what he called one of the best laps of his career on the final run of Spanish Grand Prix 2026 qualifying. Max Verstappen took third for Red Bull, his fourth podium-position qualifying result of the season, ahead of both Ferraris. Elsewhere, Haas confirmed Oliver Bearman would take no part at all after FP3 crash damage couldn’t be repaired in time, and Lance Stroll never left the garage failing to set a time.

Key Points: F1 Spanish Grand Prix 2026 Qualifying

• Norris takes the first ever pole at Madring by 0.011 seconds over Antonelli, a last-lap effort he called one of the best of his career
• Verstappen third for Red Bull, his fourth podium-position qualifying result of 2026, ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc
• Haas confirm Bearman will take no part in qualifying, the damage from his FP3 crash too extensive to repair in time
• Stroll fails to set a time, Aston Martin choosing not to send him out with grid penalties already applied regardless of today’s result
• Eliminated in Q1: Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Bottas, Bearman, Stroll. Eliminated in Q2: Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Gasly, Tsunoda, Albon
• Antonelli’s second successive front row start, his ninth of the season, puts him alongside Norris again rather than ahead of him

Q1: Bearman’s Weekend Ended Before It Started, Both Home Drivers Out Early

Round 14 landed in Madrid with the picture still unclear. Antonelli topped FP3 for Mercedes, but two red flags tore up the session and left the real pecking order guesswork heading into qualifying. Haas confirmed before the session that Oliver Bearman would take no part at all, the damage from his FP3 crash too extensive to repair in time.

The tyre calls split the field early. Bottas led Perez out for Cadillac on new softs, but Verstappen went with mediums instead, part of a small group banking their softs for Q3 rather than risking them here. Leclerc and Hamilton followed him onto mediums. Norris, Piastri and both Mercedes drivers stuck with softs. Gasly, Lawson, Ocon and Colapinto stayed in the garage, in no rush to join the early runners.

Antonelli went top on a 1:33.566, close to two tenths clear of Verstappen’s medium-shod time. The track kept dropping as the session wore on. Bortoleto found a tidy lap to third. Russell’s first attempt didn’t come together, a flat-spot from Antonelli meanwhile leaving the championship leader unable to improve on his own opener. Lawson then jumped to the top by 0.250 seconds for Red Bull.

Verstappen settled third ahead of Norris, Bortoleto’s early pace holding for fifth, Russell sliding to ninth. Antonelli locked up and ran wide moments later. The drop zone started filling: Albon and Stroll both without a representative time, Perez, Bottas and Lindblad rounding out the bottom six, Alonso joining them soon after. Sainz sat on the bubble at his home race.

Russell recovered to sixth with a lap that brushed the wall on the way through. Stroll never left the garage for a final attempt, Aston Martin choosing not to risk it. His grid penalty means he starts Sunday at the back regardless of today’s result. With no representative lap time set, whether he’s permitted to race at all is now a separate matter for the stewards to confirm. He ends the session without a time, joining Bearman as the only two drivers in the field with none. Alonso improved late enough to drop Lindblad into the zone, only for the rookie to answer back immediately, jumping to thirteenth right behind Tsunoda, to make both of them safe.

At zero, only Perez was still out on a lap. It changed nothing. He stayed nineteenth. Both Spanish drivers went out alongside him, Sainz at his own Grand Prix among them.

Eliminated in Q1: 17th Carlos Sainz, 18th Fernando Alonso, 19th Sergio Perez, 20th Valtteri Bottas, 21st Oliver Bearman (no time set, FP3 crash damage), 22nd Lance Stroll (no time set).

Q2: Verstappen Finds Red Bull Pace as Alpine’s Late Gamble Pays Off

Antonelli led the field out again, ahead of Russell, both starting Q2 on their second set of softs. Russell had topped Q1 by half a tenth over his team mate, with Mercedes still looking strong.

It didn’t stay that way for long. Antonelli set two purple sectors early, matching his Q1 form, before landing a 1:32.603, two and a half tenths clear at that point with Verstappen still to come. Leclerc ran third, Hamilton fourth, four teams back in the fight with a full ten minutes still on the clock.

Then Verstappen found the pace Red Bull had been missing through practice. He was 0.046 seconds up on Antonelli before improving further to a 1:32.431 that would stand as the pole time for the session.

With eight minutes left, neither Alpine driver had a time on the board, Colapinto catching a big moment through La Monumental with a yellow flag to negotiate on top of it. Bortoleto, Tsunoda, Ocon and Albon rounded out the bottom six at that point, which meant Hulkenberg and Lindblad, not the usual front-runners, were sitting inside the provisional top ten.

Both Ferraris emerged on their original Q1 soft tyres with five minutes left, third and fourth, Hamilton 0.045 seconds ahead of Leclerc. Antonelli rejoined on used softs. Gasly and Colapinto both went out on fresh rubber, Alpine committing fully to the gamble of making Q3 from the bottom of the order.

Norris ran his final lap on used tyres with three minutes left. Piastri, on fresh rubber, sat eighth and exposed with the midfield packed this tight, in no hurry to cross the line if the lap wasn’t needed.

The fresh tyres paid off in the closing minute. Colapinto and Gasly both improved on personal bests, Bortoleto finding more too. Gasly climbed to eleventh, agonisingly short of the cut. Colapinto’s lap carried him to eighth, squeezing the fight further with barely any time left to answer it.

When the flag came out, Hulkenberg was eleventh, Bortoleto twelfth. Ocon dropped to thirteenth, Gasly to fourteenth. Tsunoda couldn’t improve and joined them. Albon’s final lap ran out of road too late to change anything, and Piastri survived.

Eliminated in Q2: 11th Nico Hulkenberg, 12th Gabriel Bortoleto, 13th Esteban Ocon, 14th Pierre Gasly, 15th Yuki Tsunoda, 16th Alex Albon.

Q3: Norris Denies Antonelli Pole by 0.011 Seconds on the Final Lap

Antonelli led the field out again, Russell right behind him, both keen to get ahead of any yellow flags before they became a problem. Colapinto, Lindblad and Piastri all stayed on their used tyres for the opening runs; Leclerc, Hamilton, Lawson and Verstappen followed on fresh rubber.

Track temperature sat at 53.3 degrees Celsius, warmer than FP3 but slightly down from the start of qualifying. Air temperature reached 31.3 degrees.

Antonelli set the target immediately. Purple in the first sector, purple again in the final one, a 1:32.140 for the rest of the field to chase. Russell went second, a tenth back. Then Hamilton beat it outright, a 1:32.079 to grab provisional pole by 0.061 seconds over the man who replaced him at Mercedes. He’s already a winner in Spain this year, at Barcelona. Leclerc ran fourth. Verstappen crossed next and could only manage fifth, some way off the pace he’d shown to top Q2.

With the order set as Hamilton, Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris and Piastri, Lawson eighth ahead of Colapinto and Lindblad, everyone lined up for one final run on a fresh set of tyres apiece. Those on used rubber through the first runs had the clearest route to improve.

Antonelli went again first, matching Russell almost exactly through the opening sector before edging a tenth clear and topping the times by 0.244 seconds. Leclerc ran three tenths down in that same sector, Hamilton a tenth off the pace. Antonelli held provisional pole, not for long.

Norris found more. Verstappen went purple in the middle sector to move up to third, but it was Norris who denied Antonelli at the very end. It hadn’t looked likely through the middle of the session. Norris found it on the final run.

Norris takes it by 0.011 seconds over Antonelli, Verstappen’s late purple sector enough to hold third ahead of Hamilton and Leclerc. Russell, quickest through the first sector only minutes earlier, ends up sixth. The first pole in Madring’s history goes to the reigning World Champion.

Qualifying Classification: F1 Spanish Grand Prix 2026

Race Ahead

Stroll’s grid penalty means Sunday’s actual starting order won’t match today’s timing screens for him regardless of the blank line next to his name. Everyone else lines up as qualified, with Norris leading Antonelli, Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc into the first ever race at Madring.

Verstappen’s third continues Red Bull’s recent qualifying improvement, with Ferrari and McLaren still trying to close the gap to Mercedes.

Coffee Corner Take

Nobody had a reference lap to chase at Madring. No history, no previous race data, months of simulation and a single Ferrari filming day standing in for everything a normal race weekend gives a team before Saturday. Norris found the first pole in this circuit’s history anyway, on a final run he described as one of the best laps of his career, snatching it away from Antonelli in the closing minutes.

Antonelli’s second front row start in a row, his ninth of the season, arrives with a 66-point championship lead over Russell and 76 over Hamilton already banked from Monza. Hamilton held provisional pole after the first runs, Antonelli went top only briefly, and Norris beat it soon after, the advantage gone almost as fast as it appeared.

Verstappen’s third is Red Bull’s fourth podium-position qualifying result this season. A sign of improvement in a season where Red Bull haven’t been able to challenge like previous years. That’s now happened at a circuit nobody has raced before, which makes it harder to write off as one good session.

Bearman’s weekend ended in the garage before qualifying began, and Stroll never left his either. Two blank entries at the bottom of the timesheet, for entirely different reasons, on a day that otherwise came down to hundredths.

Madring’s first ever Grand Prix starts with the reigning World Champion on pole by the width of a fingernail.